Ecolab Inc. (ECL) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.65 on April 15th

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 20th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a dividend of 0.65 per share by the basic materials company on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th.

Ecolab has increased its dividend by an average of 6.6% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 33 consecutive years. Ecolab has a dividend payout ratio of 30.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Ecolab to earn $8.52 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 30.5%.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL opened at $250.87 on Friday. Ecolab has a 1 year low of $217.05 and a 1 year high of $273.69. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $252.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $249.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.00 billion, a PE ratio of 33.99, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total value of $1,510,572.84. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $996,486.96. The trade was a 60.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985 in the last quarter. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Ecolab stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 164.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 2,302 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $867,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on ECL shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Argus raised shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $288.00.

Ecolab Company Profile

Ecolab Inc provides water, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Global Industrial; Global Institutional & Specialty; and Global Healthcare & Life Sciences. The Global Industrial segment offers water treatment and process applications, and cleaning and sanitizing solutions to manufacturing, food and beverage processing, transportation, chemical, metals and mining, power generation, pulp and paper, commercial laundry, petroleum, refining, and petrochemical industries.